60 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
from the trays and packed while hot into tins, old 
40-lb. biscuit -tins being used. They remain in the 
tins for two days, and are then spread out in the trays 
again, but after the first sweating in the tins, must 
always be covered with blankets when exposed to the 
sun heat. During the sweating in the tins the pods 
exude much water. 
From this time onwards the processes are alternated, 
one day in the sun, one or two in the tins, till they are 
nearly dry. When they have begun to shrivel and 
become soft and pliant they can be left for a couple of 
weeks at a time in the tins, so long as they are air-tight 
or nearly so. 
The best pods take the longest time to dry, and 
the dry ones must be taken out each day before the 
exposure to the sun. When they are nearly dry they 
should never be exposed more than half a day at a time, 
and should be turned over at least twice, to prevent 
their being sun-burnt. They must never be spread 
singly in the trays, or the stalk end will burn. 
Another plan is to remove the pods when they have 
lost about half their weight, and are distinctly wrinkled, 
to frames covered with wire-cloth or thin sacking. 
These frames are put in a well- ventilated drying-house, 
and the pods are dried there. This plan is safer, but 
requires more house room. 
COST AND PROFIT 
Mr. Howard Newport, in the Queensland Agri- 
cidtural Journal (May 1910), p. 239, gives an estimate 
for opening up a 5-acre plantation of vanilla in Queens- 
land. He says it should not cost more than £200, 
made up as follows : — 
Land at <£4 per acre ..... £20 0 0 
Fencing, 30 chains at 6s. a chain . . . 9 0 0 
Brushing (i.e. clearing away scrub), 12s. an 
acre . . . . . . . 300 
Carry forward 
£32 0 0 
